Coach Shef | Bringing Systems to Ministry | Multi-Campus Director at North Point Ministries

How You REALLY Know How You’re Doing As A Leader

September 13, 2011 in Leading yourself, Management and Leadership, Serving and Leadership with 3 Comments

Have you ever been on a boat cruising a smooth lake. It’s awesome! One of my favorite things to do for sure.

I love sitting and looking out the back of the boat. You can see our trail weaving through the calm water. Waves emanating from each side of the boat…further and further out from their original position. There is no mistaking where we have been as we cruise through the calm water. You can see every turn, and, if you know what you’re looking at, you can also tell how fast or slow the boat was going at different points. You can tell a lot about the trip of the boat simply from it’s wake.

The same is true of us.

We can tell a ton about our journey as a leader by our wake.

Before you read on…stop and think about it.

Who is in your wake?

What would people say about you who are in your wake?

This is a concept that I was introduced to in the book Integrityby Henry Cloud. In it, Cloud says there are two sides of the wake.

Staying On Target – Part 3

August 30, 2011 in Management and Leadership with 0 Comments

If you are just not checking in…be sure to start back with Part 1. Click HERE.

I think it’s best to close with a few practical examples of how these help. Here are three common “great ideas” that a youth pastor faces and the logic I would use when deciding if this distracts us or keeps us on target.

We should have a student band!

This is one of my favorites. I love the idea of the kids getting to lead the music. BUT…before I say “yes” we need to run it through the filter.

1. Find great people and give them a healthy culture in which to grow and connect with students. – NO CHECK – This does nothing for helping us systematically find great small group leaders.

2. Create shared quality experiences built around Biblical truth for the students and the small group leaders. - NO CHECK – Again, this may provide quality experiences for the four or five kids, but that is between the kids and whoever is directing the band. Have you ever calculated how many hours it takes to direct a good student band? I personally believe it will eat up 10-20 hours a week.

3. Give parents access to #1 and #2. NO CHECK – If #1 and #2 aren’t satisfied…no way this one is.

Verdict: I won’t pursue a student band until my room is full of great small group leaders and my program is refined to giving students and small group leaders shared quality experiences around biblical truth while giving parents access to both. Until I’m doing that well and consistently, I won’t commit the time and resources to developing a student band.

We should have a sports program at our church!

Staying On Target – Part 2

August 25, 2011 in Management and Leadership with 1 Comment

Whatever you do…don’t continue reading until you have read Part 1 – Click HERE.

So, I hope that exercise brought some clarity. If you haven’t done it, I really wish you would stop reading and take some time to do it. There are few things more helpful than knowing this information and knowing it is what you truly believe.

As for me, this information drives my daily decisions. This is what helps me STAY ON TARGET.

The Three Most Redemptive (Therefore Effective) Things I Can Do For Middle Schoolers.

1. Find great people and give them a healthy culture in which to grow and connect with students.

Staying on Target

August 24, 2011 in Management and Leadership with 2 Comments

I spent 10 years in schools…and now 6 in church world.

I believe that both churches and schools suffer from the same disease.

The basic symptoms of this disease start with a sincere desire to do what’s best for the people you serve and ends in a slow frustrating death.

At the center of this disease is this…

When you’re trying to serve kids…when you’re trying to do what’s best… there are simply too many good ideas. All of them can be rationalized into a great idea that we “HAVE” to do!

For example, in schools…

Casting Vision

August 18, 2011 in Vision and Leadership with 2 Comments

Yesterday we had “Camp Packing Day” for Boot Camp.

Boot Camp is our camp for 6th graders. We do it over 2 weekends. It’s a pretty big deal. We have over 700 6th graders involved and well over 200 volunteers to coordinate.

So…packing day is where we take care of all of the little details.

We label t-shirts, put them in backs, create leader bags with guides, pencils, activities, gifts, first aid kits…etc…etc….etc.

The net of it all is that we fill 8 hours with manual labor. It’s simply stuff that needs done.

16 golf pencils in this zip lock…add 16 cards…2 shapies…and a partridge in a pear tree.

Long story short…as we broke for lunch, Justin Grunewald, our Buckhead Middle School Director was in charge of lunch…and so he was also in charge of praying.

But…before he started…he said something like this.

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